1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Battery packs are widely used in portable electronic devices, such as notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and camcorders. A typical battery pack includes a set of battery cells, due to the limited capacity of an individual battery cell.
Specifically, a battery pack comprises a plurality of rechargeable battery cells, a protective circuit module (PCM), and conductive tabs and conductive lines electrically connecting the battery cells and the protective circuit module. The PCM includes a circuit to control the charge/discharge of the battery cells, a circuit to prevent an overcharge/over-discharge of the battery cells, and other circuits.
The conductive tabs and the conductive lines are electrically connected by soldering. Since only portions of conductive wires, which are exposed from the ends of the conductive lines, are soldered to the conductive tabs, there is the risk that the conductive wires may be easily disconnected from the solder joints, when a strong external impact is applied to the battery pack. As a result of the disconnection of the conductive wires, the conductive lines may come into contact with the battery cells or the circuits of the protective circuit module. This contact may cause an electrical short.
In view of these problems, commercially available battery packs include fixing tapes to fix the conductive lines to predetermined areas of battery cells, if the conductive lines become disconnected. However, an electrolyte leaking from the battery cells weakens the adhesive strength of the fixing tapes, making it impossible for the disconnected conductive lines to be stably fixed to the predetermined areas.